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As he turns 40, Swizz Beatz says, My new self is better than my old self”

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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images via ABCSwizz Beatz celebrated his 40th birthday on September 13, and now the rapper/producer is determined to elevate his future.  When asked to reveal his new goals, Swizz tells The Fader, “To outperform my previous chapter.”

“My new self is better than my old self,” he adds. “And I have to feel that way to raise the ceiling to the place I want to be.”

Born Kasseem Dean, the husband of Alicia Keys is releasing his second solo album, Poison, in November. Dean says his new album reflects his commitment to raising the bar in music.  

“I feel like real lyrics and music are needed,” he tells The Fader. “I’m not against other artists having fun and doing what they do, but as far as me having the experience and longevity that I have, what am I bringing to the table in 2018?”  

“That’s why I keep saying ‘quality’ — I don’t feel like there’s enough quality out there,” Dean continues. “There’s a lot of quantity.”  

Swizz, whose production credits include songs with Jay-Z, Beyonce, and Drake, and well as his wife Alicia, recently returned from a trip to Egypt, which he says changed his life.  

“It solved a lot of things I’d been wondering about: why, as a culture, we’re attacked so much,” he reflects. “The bottom line is that there’s no one like the culture [or] our people. People did everything to make that go away, and even today it’s still happening — and it connects back to thousands of years ago.” 

“We had an amazing teacher that brought us on this trip who taught us how to read hieroglyphics.” Swizz continues. “We were out there for two weeks and were everywhere. A lot of things happened and started there.” 

Swizz and Alicia’s eldest son is named Egypt; he’ll be eight next month.

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